Unsolicited advice

How do you deal when someone offers unsolicited parenting advice? My coworker's wife offered unsolicited advice the other day when we weren't even talking about the baby. Now, she's well known to be a bit odd, but I know this is a common phenomenon. I just went "uh huh" and walked away, but she followed me and kept talking. What would you do?

I've mostly gotten this from my parents and in-laws, and I just tell them how what they're suggesting is or could be harmful. They know I read up on these things, and I just speak authoritatively, so they rarely bring up the same thing twice.

My sister has a 14yo foster daughter with some behavior issues at school (she’s super sweet at home). My sister has been teaching her the phrase “thank you for your concern” whenever she wants to say “fuck off” in response to a teacher’s advice/chastisement/etc.

Now we’re all using it in response to unsolicited advice and the like.

Yesterday at work I sat down for lunch next to our plant manager. He asked me a couple questions about how things were going with the new baby and whatnot. Then he proceeded to tell me that I was going to have to switch to formula eventually. I was like... uh, no? Breastfeeding is going very well for us, so I don’t see why we would. He said eventually, though, I will HAVE to switch, as though EBF (extended breastfeeding, exclusively breastfeeding) past a few months is impossible. I had to fight so hard not to roll my eyes and to be polite about it. Didn't really want get into an argument with my boss’s boss, so I just let it go this time with tons of internal eye rolling.

My sister has a 14yo foster daughter with some behavior issues at school (she...

Posted
09/18/2018

My sister has a 14yo foster daughter with some behavior issues at school (she’s super sweet at home). My sister has been teaching her the phrase “thank you for your concern” whenever she wants to say “fuck off” in response to a teacher’s advice/chastisement/etc.

Now we’re all using it in response to unsolicited advice and the like.

I just hear them out no matter how long it takes and then forget about it when the conversation ends. I'll try to change the topic or end the conversation saying I have something else to do if it's really tedious.

I'm such a wuss, though... Once, my neighbor thought LO (little one) should wear a hat when I was babywearing because it was slightly windy, even though it was still warm enough for me to wear shorts. Since I had to run back inside for some other reason, I just grabbed a hat and had the baby wear it until we were out of the neighbor's sight.

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